NORTH
CAROLINA (1758-1784)
Bud MULLINS was born in North Carolina. Careful research, accompanied by some reasonable deductions give us a probable
lineage. His parents were Thomas and Anne Mullins. How
did he, and most likely his family, end up in north-central North Carolina?
Who were they? Where did
they come from? To start with what
is learned the most about Bud’s beginning life in North Carolina is from his
Revolutionary War Application which was written about 75 years later in Paulding
County, Georgia, and dated June 5, 1854, when Bud was a staggering 95 years old. Here for study and interpretation is the first part of his
application:
STATE OF GEORGIA1
COUNTY OF PAULDING
On this the fifth day of June in
the year A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty four, personally appeared
in open court before the Court of ordinary now sitting, Bud Mullins, a
resident of the County of Paulding and State of Georgia, aged to the best of
his knowledge and information ninety five years, who being first duly sworn
according to Law doth on his oath make the following declarations in order to
obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.
That he entered the service of the
United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated.
That
he entered the service of the United States under Captain Thomas Gregory and
in the Battalion commanded by Major Mayburn and in the Regiment commanded by
Colonel Butler. That he was
pressed or drafted in Chatham County in the State of North Carolina sometime
during the Revolutionary War, the day of the month nor the month nor the year
reccollected (sic) and did serve
the full term of three months under the command of the above named officers in
the County of Chatham & State of North Carolina and was there in one
battle during the above named service with the Torys in said County of Chatham
& State of North Carolina near Haw River in said Chatham County, North
Carolina, and wa
s there dismissed from said service and returned home, and remained at home
something (to the best of my recollection) less than a month and was called
out into the field of service under the same Captain the same Major & same
Colonel to wit Captain Gregory, Major Maburn, or Mayburn, & Colonel Butler
and did continue in said service for the term of three months under the
command of said above named officers and did serve the term of three months in
said County of Chatham, and was in one battle with one against the Torys, in
which battle no person was killed on either side but some few was wounded on
both sides (ie: some of the Republicans & sons of the Torys) this battle
was fought near to the same place where the first named battle was fought near
Haw River and further that he was never attached to the main army but was
permitted to remain in his native county to guard against the depredations of
the Torys, and that he did actually serve the term of Six months in the two
terms above stated, that he never did receive any written discharge nor that
he knows of no such person in life that he can prove his service as above
stated by that the reason he has not made application for a pension before
this time that he expected & believed he would have to prove his service
by some of the company that was with him in said service and that he knew of
no person living that he could make this proof by and that he was informed by
persons that said they were acquainted with the Law passed by Congress that I
the said Bud Mullins would have to prove my service by some one of the Company
that I was in, and I knew of none living and, …
(Parts here will be
addressed later.)
To the first interrogatory (sic) he answers that according to tradition
he was born in the year 1758 or 1759
To the 2nd Intry he answers that he never did have any record
of his age
Intr 3 he answers that he was living when called into service in Chatham
County in the State of North Carolina, and moved from Chatham County North
Carolina to Jackson County in the State of Georgia and from Jackson County, Ga
to Campbell County Georgia & from Campbell County Ga to Cobb County Georgia,
& was by act of the legislature of Georgia cut out of Cobb County into this
County to wit Paulding County.
Intr 4 he answers that he was draughtified or pressed
Intr 5 he answers that he was acquainted with the names of other officers
besides those he served under but those names he has forgotten in consequence of
the length of time it has been, …
(It continues on and refers to
people he has known and that will also be addressed later.)
Bud (X) MULLINS signs his name with his mark: an X.
Wherever Bud was raised, he obviously received little or no education,
nor did he try to educate himself in later years.
Also, keep in mind that Bud was 95 when this document was prepared for
him. No one could have helped him
with his memory but his son Thomas who was still alive and living with him, but
Thomas was not alive during the Revolutionary War era.
An important statement made by Bud in the second interrogatory was “…that
he never did have any record of his age”.
There are many possibilities of why he had no idea of his birth date or
year, among them: he could have been an orphan or adopted; he could have left
his home before he had any permanent recollection of his family life; or he
could just have forgotten. The most
acceptable reason is that his parents were both dead and he was living with his
older brother, Thomas II.
Bud refers to Chatham County, North Carolina, as “his native
county”. Chatham County was
not formed until 1771 by act of the Colonial Assembly, out of Orange County.
At the same time, Guilford
County was created from the western portion of Orange County, while Chatham
County was formed from its southern area. Therefore,
it could be assumed from Bud’s statement that Orange County was where he was
born, 13 years earlier. Orange
itself was formed in 1752, from land originally
occupied by Siouan Indian tribes. These
tribes had migrated to eastern North Carolina in the early 1700's. Despite
their absence, there were few white families in the central area of North
Carolina in 1740. By 1751, the population had grown to almost 4,000 -
mostly settlers from Pennsylvania. By 1767, it was the most populated
county in the state.
How did these settlers arrive here in Orange/Chatham area?
One must look back to the period and look at the roads or rivers
available. Certainly, the rivers
were navigable if one wanted to carry a relatively light load, only go by canoe,
and portage around waterfalls. More
than likely, the settlers would have taken the trails, due to the size of their
wagons and the number of people in the wagon train.
The most likely trails taken would be the original well-established
Indian trails. A quote
from a publication by The National Genealogical Society: “The more careful the
investigation, the more clearly can it be shown that the Indian trails and not
the rivers became the selected routes of the early emigrants…"2
The map pictured below shows these trails in the area around Virginia – North
Carolina border.3 (Click on it for a better view)
So
in order to arrive in the then Orange/Chatham area (south and east of the town
of “Greensboro” on the map) a traveler must come in from the coastal area:
the town of New Bern on the Neuse River/Bay.
A
large number of settlers came down from Virginia along the trail marked with a
#32. This trail, #32, known as The
Occaneechi Path was one of the major roads taken by the early settlers coming
from the northern states. This trail started on the James River, through Ft. Henry
(later Petersburg, Virginia), southwesterly to the Indian trading town of
Occaneechi where it crossed the Roanoke River.
This point, as best as can be determined, is now under the John H. Kerr
Reservoir, just east of Interstate 85, on the Virginia – North Carolina
border. This trail continues on
southwest, crossing the Haw River in Chatham County, North Carolina, through
present day Charlotte, North Carolina, and continuing into Georgia at Augusta.
Great caravans of white emigrants passed along this route in the very
early days, visiting the Indians “…in their villages, selling them guns,
powder, shot, hatchets, kettles, blankets, brass rings and other trinkets which
always attracted them."4
Another
major trail on the above map started out in southern Pennsylvania, flowed
south-south-west, down the Shenandoah Valley, through Staunton & Roanoke,
Virginia, and entered North Carolina near the present town of Eden, then flowed
south-south-east to the coast and eventually ended at Wilmington, NC.
This trail marked #35 in the northern portion was called The Great Indian
Warpath, or Warrior’s Path. This
trail was originally one of the great trading and warpaths between northern and
southern Indian tribes, and when expanded to handle white man’s wagons later
became known as The Great Wagon Road that let enormous numbers of settlers move
westward. In
the second half of the century, the Cumberland Gap was discovered and settlers
began filing into what would become Kentucky and West Virginia. Both were
initially part of Virginia; Kentucky became a separate state in 1792, and West
Virginia in 1863. At
Roanoke the trail split off and the southern leg became known as The Wilmington,
Highpoint and Northern Trail (#22 on map).
This branch is the trail that led settlers into North Carolina, and is
the one of interest to our research.
These
trails are mention because that was one of the few ways families could move
through the territories in the middle of the 18th Century.
Bud, if he traveled with a family, must have come along, at least part of
one of these three trails, finally ending up on The Occaneechi Path, as it is
the only one that crossed the Haw River in Chatham County.
The settlement then town and later county seat of Pittsboro in Chatham
County is on that trail.
Let
us go back to Bud’s RWPA, where in two separate instances Bud refers to having
been involved in skirmishes near the Haw River in Chatham County, North
Carolina. In 1775 the county
boundaries that comprised the area of the Haw River flow began in Guilford
County, flowed east into Orange County, and then southeast into Chatham County,
where it joined the Cape Fear River. The portion of Orange County where the Haw River flows
through later became Alamance County, and the boundaries of Chatham County that
were adjusted over the years, but essentially remain the same today. Therefore,
Bud, stating that he fought in a battle on the Haw River, would most likely be
in today’s Chatham County if his memory was accurate.
The map below shows Chatham County where Bud was in the Revolutionary
War, and the locations of the three MULLINS’ families to be discussed next.
In searching for
Bud’s parents in North Carolina, one must look at the known residents of North
Carolina in the areas where Bud settled. There
were a number of families and each will be analyzed.
However, one must also look to where they might have possibly come from,
which research has disclosed. Three
major families have been studied, mainly because parts of both of these ended up
going to Georgia in the same period and areas that Bud settled.
The first family is the MULLINS from Goochland, Virginia.
This family consisting of at least Patrick MULLINS and his nephew John
MULLINS II, would have left Goochland and traveled south through Roanoke on The
Great Wagon Road, then heading due south on the road that went west of
Greensboro. Shortly after reaching
the North Carolina border, they would have encountered the Dan River, which
Patrick’s family may have followed to Blackies Branch where they settled,
John’s family going to the vicinity of Reidsville, NC, in present Stokes and
Rockingham Counties respectively.
Careful research over much time has eliminated these Mullins' from being Bud's
ancestors.
Looking more to the east, the next family to be analyzed will be Thomas
MULLINS I, who probably came out of Surry/Sussex area near the James River.
To travel south into the new unsettled portion of North Carolina, he
would have picked up The Occaneechi Path heading south across into North
Carolina a little west of where U.S. Interstate 85 currently runs, and into then
Granville County, now Franklin County, where he settled on
the Wolfpen Branch of the Tar River.
The path Thomas I followed then continues past the Haw River area of
Chatham County, North Carolina.
I believe Bud, and at least his oldest brother, Thomas II, left their Wolfpen
river home and went west for a while.
None of these settling families traveled very far into North Carolina,
Bud living the most southern of them all; because there was no need to go
further to find suitable land at that time.
These people were of the earliest white inhabitants to settle here, and
land was available everywhere for the taking, or patenting as it was called.
It might be appropriate to discuss land
grants here. The process of
patenting land in North Carolina was not complex.
The person wishing to patent land first made application, also called a
land entry, to a land office. The land officer then issued a warrant. Land
officers included the secretary of state (1669–1776), the agents of Earl
Granville (1748–76), or the county entry taker (1778–present). The warrant
was taken to a surveyor who surveyed the land and sketched a plat (map) of the
claim. The plat was then filed in the land office or, after 1777, recorded by
the county register of deeds, and a patent for the land was issued and recorded.
The Granville District, an area that encompassed the upper half of
present-day North Carolina, was created and partially surveyed in 1744 for John
Carteret, second Earl Granville. Unlike the early proprietors, Granville owned
all unsettled lands but had no right to govern the area. Earl Granville never
visited North Carolina, but appointed agents there as representatives to grant
land, collect rents, and conduct his business. The Granville land office opened
in 1748.5
- National Archives Microfilm Publications, Revolutionary War Pension Application
File #R7485
-
Marcus W. Lewis, The Development of Early Emigrant Trails in the United
States East of the Mississippi River, The National Genealogical Society,
Arlington, VA, 1933, Special Publication #3, pg. 3
-
Marcus W. Lewis, map insert. ibid
-
Marcus W. Lewis, ibid, pg. 7
-
The entire paragraph taken from www.segenealogy.com/northcarolina
on the Internet
Now look at the individuals who settled there in the early
years:
Patrick Mullins I
John Mullins II Thomas Mullins II
Bud Mullins
Mullins Index
